


racing through the dark

by GuardianKarenTerrier



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Gen, Ninozine 2k19, directly after Heroes Day, playing with superpowers, supportive alya
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-01 02:43:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20250856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianKarenTerrier/pseuds/GuardianKarenTerrier
Summary: "Hey, babe." Alya's hand rests on his shoulder for a moment, squeezing once before she vaults over the bench to sit next to him. "What's up?"Nino leans back, adjusts his cap so it doesn't fall, and wraps his arm around Alya's waist. "D'you think they're patrolling tonight?"He doesn't have to tell her what he means- it's Alya so he rarely has to explain himself anyway, but this is something they were clearly already on the same wavelength about. "Sort of. I think they've probably found, say, their own park bench to sit on and talk.  At least I hope they did.""Do you think they do that? Talk about it, I mean?" Nino carefully doesn't turn to look at Alya.  He didn't actually think to tell Alya that he was here. He's not very surprised that she's shown up anyway.Alya rests her head on his shoulder and takes his hand. "I think it doesn't matter whether or not they do, babe, I think what matters is whether you want to."





	racing through the dark

**Author's Note:**

> this was my contribution to the Nino Zine, which you can get [here!](https://theninozine.tumblr.com/post/187010287908/its-finally-here)

"Hey, babe." Alya's hand rests on his shoulder for a moment, squeezing once before she vaults over the bench to sit next to him. "What's up?"

Nino leans back, adjusts his cap so it doesn't fall, and wraps his arm around Alya's waist. "D'you think they're patrolling tonight?"

He doesn't have to tell her what he means- it's Alya so he rarely has to explain himself anyway, but this is something they were clearly already on the same wavelength about. "Sort of. I think they've probably found, say, their own park bench to sit on and talk. At least I hope they did."

"_Do _ you think they do that? Talk about it, I mean?" Nino carefully doesn't turn to look at Alya. He didn't actually think to tell Alya that he was here. He's not very surprised that she's shown up anyway.

Alya rests her head on his shoulder and takes his hand. "I think it doesn't matter whether or not _ they _ do, babe, I think what matters is whether _ you _ want to."

Nino swallows hard and tips his head back forwards, cap sliding down until the brim shades his eyes. "I think I do, Alya. How- how did you know?"

"Nino," Alya sits up carefully, adjusting his hat so she can see his eyes. She smiles at him. "I know you. Also, you called Ladybug dude, like, three times in one sentence."

That startles a laugh from him. "I was nervous! Weren't-" He looks around, but it's really late. The park is long deserted, the detritus of the earlier picnic long since cleaned up. They aren't really supposed to be here, but Nino knows he can get out of sight very quickly if he needs to, and he knows now that Alya can as well. "Weren't you?"

Alya's quiet. After a moment, she murmurs, "I think I was too busy being excited."

"Yeah." Nino breathes out hard. "It's- something. I felt like-"

"-like you could do anything?" Alya completes. She gets up, pulling him after her. "Like you could just, do all the rooftop running and all kinds of flips and all kinds of things you _ wished _ you could do?"

"Okay, you're right, talking about it is a relief," Nino acknowledges, laughing and scratching at the back of his neck as he follows Alya further into the park. "Now I _ am _ wondering if they talk about it."

Alya turns to grin at him, mischievous in the dappled light from the streetlight on the other side of the fence. "We could always go find them and ask."

Nino stares at her. His heart is thudding and he doesn't want to explore why all that closely.

Her eyebrows arch. "You haven't tried it yet, have you? Nino- babe, you can still do it. You don't have to be transformed to do it, it helps but _ you can still do it _."

He takes a deep breath and when Alya laughs, a sparkling note that seems to linger in the night air, and then takes off running he takes off after her.

Alya's fast. Nino's fast too, but Alya's faster, and he thinks of Chat Noir's flicking ears and lashing tail and wonders if he's imagining that he's slower than the others or not.

Alya takes sharper and sharper turns, veering into alleys and bouncing off fire escapes, and sometimes he can't see her at all and has to rely on the glittering sound of her laughter to guide him. He _ can _ always hear her laughter, but- he doesn't really think that's a Miraculous ability.

When he does start catching up (when she starts letting him catch up) Alya immediately ups the stakes. She starts kicking off of walls to change direction quickly, darts up to first floors, chimney-climbs to a roof from an especially narrow alleyway, and pinballs between different buildings every chance she gets.

They're speeding up, Nino realises gradually as he reaches out to tag Alya and she tugs her shirt from his hands with seconds to spare. They're speeding up and Alya may well be following his laughter just as much as he is hers.

Eventually they come skidding to a halt at a bus stop, still laughing. Nino is laughing in between his panting now, bent over with his hands braced on his knees, and Alya is laughing _ at _ him because she's noticeably less winded.

At some point it began to rain, so they take shelter in the bus stop. Nino blinks at the giant advertisement of Adrien smiling down at them. "Man, that's honestly beginning to really weird me out, you know? I keep, like, accidentally trying to say hi to posters now."

Alya snorts and leans against the advertisement, brushing off her sleeves. She's been a lot more willing to ricochet herself off of and between buildings than Nino is yet, so her clothes are covered in a fine layer of dust and grime. "I mean, it's easier to actually hang out with the _ billboards _." Her face lights up.

"You know that's not his fault- Alya, come on, we're not climbing a billboard." Nino gives her a pleading look, still hunched over.

"Come on, I know you wanna see if we can do it," Alya challenges him, and yeah, okay, she isn't _ wrong _, so.

It takes them ten minutes and a lot more quiet giggling, but they make it up their chosen billboard (another one of Adrien, because they agree on that).

They get their answer as to whether Ladybug and Chat Noir have gone out patrol.

"Quiet," Alya breathes out unnecessarily, because Nino's seen them too, and he's not about to wake them.

Ladybug's back is pressed up against the billboard, legs dangling over the side, head tilted back and mouth half open as she snores. Chat Noir is twisted up sideways against the billboard at her side, his head and arms across her lap, and Ladybug has one hand resting between his shoulder blades. One ear flicks back every so often as he breathes slowly.

"Is he _ purring _?" Nino whispers, and Alya elbows him quiet.

Alya sits down herself and Nino sits down beside her, close enough to keep an eye on the heroes but far enough away to at least try and avoid waking them. Nino can't imagine that they don't both have well-developed battle instincts by now but they were apparently both tired enough to fall asleep here, so.

Alya doesn't suggest leaving, to Nino's relief. Now that they know Chat Noir and Ladybug are here and _ vulnerable _ it seems wrong to leave.

And if he can protect them now, maybe he can feel like he's redeemed himself for letting himself be akumatised during their earlier battle.

Some Hero's Day it's been.

Nino sighs and lets his own head tip back, blinking up at the night sky. There's far too much light pollution to make out more than a handful of stars, but he strains his eyes trying anyway.

"Babe," Alya says, very softly, wrapping her arm around him and pulling him into her side. "I know, Nino, me too. But we were doing _ great _ as a team before that, and- you know, maybe we just need more team training?"

They both look over at Ladybug.

"Do you think she'd agree to that?" Nino asks, keeping his voice down and shifting uncomfortably. The billboard is, he's rapidly discovering, _ not _ the most comfortable place to sit.

Although Chat Noir at least looks _ perfectly _comfortable.

Alya shrugs, nestling further into Nino's side. "I think Chat Noir would agree. And she listens to him."

"Yeah, but he doesn't-" Nino stops, blinking. "He doesn't know who we are."

Alya gives him a strange look. "Secret identities?"

"Ladybug knows our identities," Nino says, staring thoughtfully out into space. "And we know each others. And Chloe Iron Manned it, so."

"Nino?" Alya asks, cautiously.

He breathes out hard. "Doesn't really seem fair that he doesn't know who anyone is. Does it."

Alya nudges his shoulder. "You know you can't tell him."

Nino shakes his head, leaning into Alya enough that her hair tickles his neck. "Dude. I know, I'm not gonna, not after-" He swallows, seeing flashes of the fight in his memory. He shuts his eyes only for them to snap open again right away, because that turns out to be nearly the exact opposite of helpful. "He used our identities against each other."

He senses Alya's wince more than he sees it. "Yeah, so that's another point in the _ don't tell him _ column."

Nino slumps against her now. "Do you think they did better than the rest of us 'cause _ they _don't know each other's identities?"

Alya shrugs him off and turns towards him as much as the limited space will allow. The lighting of the billboard puts half her face in shadow, surprisingly reminiscent of Rena's mask, and Nino flinches a little internally as he registers that the light might make it obvious that they're all up here. 

Then again, they hadn't seen Ladybug _ or _ Chat Noir until they'd climbed up themselves. The more experienced heroes probably have a fairly good grasp of where they're more hidden than he might think.

"Nino, babe, I think they did better because they have got _ way _ more experience than the rest of us," Alya says firmly, twisting lithely around until she can put her hands on his shoulders. "We'll get there, you know?"

"Even though we probably can't do the team training?" Nino asks, trying hard to keep doubt out of his voice and probably not succeeding.

Alya's hands slide down to grip his upper arms instead and her voice and smile both turn teasing. "Isn't that what we just did?"

Nino stares at her. Distantly, he's aware that Ladybug is starting to stir and they'd better go soon, but they have at least a few moments before they have to climb down.

Alya's grin widens. "Listen, I've got some new ideas for date nights..."


End file.
